Latest Stories

Latest Stories

Carolyn Gretton

How Alzheimer’s could be ‘cleaned’ from the brain

One challenge to treating Alzheimer’s is the difficulty of getting treatments through the blood-brain barrier. But researchers have stumbled across a game-changer: What if you could clean plaques from the blood as it circulates in the brain using existing methods?

Joyce Hollman

Pesticides in produce: A guide to safe, cost-effective choices

The American Heart Association recommends you eat four to five servings of fruit and vegetables every day. But more than 70 percent of produce exposes you to dangerous pesticide residue, negating disease-fighting nutrients. Here’s how to make safer and cost-effective choices…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The cancer danger lurking in your tattoo

Tattoos are commonplace as a form of self-expression. Yet, despite their popularity, the industry is largely unregulated, at least when it comes to the ink used. This might give you pause if considering your first or adding to your collection…

Joyce Hollman

Milk thistle: Liver support for better cholesterol, blood sugar and weight

For centuries, milk thistle has been used as a natural, herbal remedy to help support the liver, your body’s main detoxifying organ that protects you from pesticides and other environmental toxins. But if you thought that was all it could do, think again. There’s research that your blood sugar, cholesterol and weight could benefit, too.

Joyce Hollman

The liver disease that stalks night owls

Being a night owl may be your thing. After all, a nap or two the next day and you feel good as new, right? While that may be, something sinister may be undermining your health. Find out why this liver disease goes after people like you…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Fiber helps flush neurotoxin linked to Alzheimer’s

The gut-brain axis is a biochemical signaling pathway between your gut and central nervous system. But if your gut’s off, it becomes a fast track for a brain cell-destroying neurotoxin to travel straight to your brain to start a killing spree. Enough fiber can stop it…

Carolyn Gretton

The herb that goes after a ‘root cause’ of diabetes

An unhealthy gut microbiome can lead to all kinds of problems, including metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes. A recent study reinforced this connection while investigating the potential of an adaptogenic herb to improve insulin resistance…

Carolyn Gretton

Evidence for this depression-fighting vitamin stacks up

There’s more than one reason it’s referred to as the “sunshine vitamin.” Not only is its main source sunlight, but studies hint a little sunshine can lighten our darkest moods. And a recent meta-analysis of 41 studies has reinforced what many experts already know about this mood-boosting vitamin…

Jedha Dening

A cancer-killing tea you’ve never heard of

Around the world, herbal remedies are used to treat a wide range of ailments and diseases, even cancer. That’s because many of them, especially taken as tea, contain natural compounds with serious health benefits. And this one may steal the show…

Virginia Tims-Lawson

One thing that trumps a genetic predisposition for longevity

So, you think you’ve won the genetic lottery because your grandparents are long-lived. After all, if a medical family history of disease spells disaster, the opposite must be all roses and rainbows. Or is your genetic predisposition outweighed by the choices you make every day?

Joyce Hollman

Over 60? What milk can do for your brain power

For older adults, cognitive decline and dementia loom large. You can support your brain by giving it needed antioxidants. But it turns out that adding some milk to your diet provides the building blocks for the “mother of all antioxidants”…

Carolyn Gretton

Common symptoms of 6 cardiovascular diseases

When you hear the words “cardiovascular disease” (CVD), the first thing that comes to your mind is probably chest pain. But the symptoms are just as varied as the different diseases that fall under the CVD umbrella. Here are 6 you need to know…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

COVID’s blood clot risk persists in long-COVID syndrome

If you’ve had COVID-19, you thought you were out of the woods once your PCR test came back negative. Enter long COVID syndrome and symptoms from shortness of breath and fatigue to brain fog and even sexual dysfunction, and yes, that blood clot risk that persists…

Joyce Hollman

Red meat’s effects on the heart may have little to do with cholesterol

If your doctor isn’t harping on you to cut down on red meat, everyone else is. Because the age-old wisdom” says cholesterol clogs your arteries and causes heart disease. Well, red meat is a problem, but the culprit that makes it harmful to your heart resides in your gut…

Carolyn Gretton

A ‘food compass’ for healthy eating made easy

Healthy eating is overwhelming, what with trying to avoid salt, sugar and fats while trying to balance the right nutrients. What if a compass could guide you, especially one that found your favorite chips are not that bad in the big scheme of things?

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Why thinking hard makes you so tired

Hard physical work can leave you exhausted. That’s because physical activity causes a buildup of a toxic muscular sludge known as lactic acid, that contributes to muscle fatigue. Surprisingly, thinking hard can affect your brain the same way…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Can you really tame tinnitus in just 12 weeks?

For decades, experts have been trying to find an effective treatment for tinnitus, that infernal condition where sufferers hear phantom ringing, buzzing and even clicking. Much of it has been hit or miss. But the latest may offer relief in as little as 12 weeks…

Joyce Hollman

Low vitamin D linked to chronic disease biomarker

For years, research has backed vitamin D’s powerful effects on inflammation, but now researchers have uncovered a direct connection between low levels of the vitamin and a key biomarker known for signaling high disease risk…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Two minerals that could help prevent kidney stones

Kidney stones are excruciating. One second you’re fine, the next a stone trying to pass through the tiny channel of the ureter can drop you to your knees. If you’ve had one, you’ve got a 30 percent chance of another one within the next five years. Decrease that risk with two important nutrients…

Joyce Hollman

10 superfoods for seriously healthy smoothies

What’s not to love about smoothies? Quick, convenient, delicious — and when done right, bursting with nutrition. Here’s a list of ten superfood choices and their little-known benefits for enlarged prostate, ED, cholesterol and more…

Joyce Hollman

How acupuncture may prevent a diabetes diagnosis

Prediabetes is a condition in which blood sugar levels are abnormally high, but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes, yet. Lifestyle interventions can change that course, and additional support has been found in a surprising practice…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

How your microbiome affects your athletic performance

What’s bacteria got to do with fitness? A lot. In fact, taking probiotics before working out could be the secret to increased muscle growth. And now there’s proof problems with your gut microbiome can knock you off your game affecting performance too…

Carolyn Gretton

Stroke danger: Why plaque thins and breaks off

Strokes can happen in an instant. And the mechanisms that lead to some strokes and most heart attacks involve ruptured arterial plaque. But until recently, researchers haven’t been able to determine exactly why that happens…

Carolyn Gretton

The ‘other’ B vitamin that beats depression and stress

You may have read the serotonin connection to depression is under fire. And herbal options can leave you a little too relaxed. Just in time, the benefits of another B vitamin have been confirmed for both depression and anxiety…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Wine or beer: which is safer for your heart?

AFib is a condition that causes heart palpatations and carries a higher risk of stroke or heart failure. If you have AFib, drinking alcohol is a big no-no. And drinking too much can cause the condition to develop. But if becoming a teetotaler is not on your bucket list, research says all alcohol is not created equally.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

How a fatty liver can exponentially raise dementia risk

Fatty liver affects 1 in 4. The inflammation and damage may eventually lead to cirrhosis or worse. But if you’re one of 30 million with another common condition plus fatty liver, your risk for dementia skyrockets to insane levels. Trim your liver and your risks today…

Joyce Hollman

3 keys to better aging: Mitochondria, energy and muscle

Skeletal muscle constitutes 40 percent of your body and a world of metabolic activity. Research shows just how important it is to maintain those muscle cells, and igniting a process that leads to energy, endurance and longevity could help make that happen…

Joyce Hollman

Dizziness upon standing? How to stop it and why it happens

Orthostatic hypotension literally means “low blood pressure caused by an upright posture.” For some people, it can be an unpleasant experience, even without any underlying causes. It can also be dangerous if you’re not careful. Here’s how to cut down on episodes…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Having a cat could protect you against a staph infection

Bacteriotherapy is a cutting-edge approach to fighing MRSP, or methicillin-resistant staph. And a strain of bacteria has been identified that’s especially good at inhibiting it. You could say it’s a cat’s superpower…

Carolyn Gretton

Ultra-processed foods: The more you eat, the higher your dementia risk

Ultra-processed foods are everywhere, and they’re not doing you any favors, except making it easy to develop insulin resistance, obesity, inflammation, high blood pressure, heart disease — oh and did we mention the strong link to dementia?

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

Just how dangerous is a dip in the ocean these days?

Just like my family, hoards of vacationers still flock to the beach, opting for ocean spray over time in the hotel pool, even though ocean water holds something we all should be concerned about… dangerous bacteria.

Jenny Smiechowski

People with MS have a crazy high risk of these three cancers

When you have a chronic disease like MS, you devote a lot of energy to keeping your symptoms in check… You work to get your meds right. You eat healthy. You keep stress levels low. But something serious can happen while you’re running defense against MS… You can get blindsided by cancer.

Joyce Hollman

The hygiene habit that contributes to osteoporosis

It took the FDA 36 years to get this chemical out of our soaps and hand sanitizers. So why has it remained in other products when study after study shows that this chemical is far scarier than the germ it’s meant to protect us from. And, most recently, for the first time, it’s been linked to osteoporosis.

Margaret Cantwell

How an acne drug could make statins obsolete

After the age of 55, your stroke risk more than doubles with each passing decade. Acne, on the other hand, is generally thought of as a problem faced by the young. What do the two have in common? An accidental discovery that could have your doctor prescribing acne meds instead of statins.

Dr. Mark Wiley

Three spices for natural pain relief

We tend to think more in terms of nutritional supplements for health than we do food, let alone the herbs and spices we use to flavor our favorite dishes. And we think even less of food as a pain reliever. Yet, some flavor profiles play a major role in pain relief. Here are the best…

Jenny Smiechowski

Is your arthritis chronic Lyme in disguise?

If you develop joint pain and stiffness as you get older, it’s easy to assume you have osteoarthritis, a common condition. But before you write off a sudden case of stiff, achy joints as a sign you’re not the spring chicken you once were, ask yourself a question — What’s my tick exposure like?

Virginia Tims-Lawson

Two ways antioxidants help reduce brain injury from stroke

A stroke is a scary thing. The blood is cut off to an area of your brain and the cells in that area die. And because of the unique nature of a stroke and the physical and chemical changes it causes, the damage can continue — killing more brain cells even days after.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The gene mutation that proves the pain isn’t ‘all in your head’

If you live with a chronic pain condition like fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis or TMJ, you know how difficult it can be to get relief. Worse, even, is getting your doctor to listen to you without thinking he believes the pain is all in your head. But researchers now have proof where this pain comes from…

Joyce Hollman

The best diet for your body and your planet

There really isn’t much doubt that the standard American diet is killing a lot of us slowly. And some, very quickly. And, as if this weren’t bad enough, these dietary choices are killing our planet at the same time. But the planetary health diet could solve all of these problems. Good news is that it’s pretty flexible…

Jenny Smiechowski

Does coffee fight or fuel your heart disease risk?

Sometimes, caffeine makes you feel like Leonardo DiCaprio in Titanic… king of the world! But drink too much, and you get anxious, jittery and it feels like your heart’s beating out of your chest. It’s common knowledge that coffee increases heart rate. But how does a daily cup impact your ticker over the long term?

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

How to make workouts seem less tough

Did you start the year with lofty fitness goals but slip back to your old, sedentary habits? Come January, you may find yourself filled with regret that you let another year slip by. You’ve still got six months — and luckily, the researchers at University of British Columbia found a way to make exercise easier…

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas MD, FACC

Why the doctor says you may not need statins after all

Been told you need a statin and questioning whether it’s the right step for you? You’re not alone: According to the Mayo Clinic Proceedings every man over 65 and every woman over 70 qualifies to be on statin drugs. But should everyone take a drug just because they reach a certain age? This doc says no…

Joyce Hollman

New ways to prevent type 2 diabetes before it takes hold

By the time the warning signs of elevated blood sugar show up, the damage has often been progressing silently for years. That’s a shame considering diabetes can be prevented, even reversed. What if more people at-risk could be identified sooner to prevent diabetes and its deadly complications?

Jenny Smiechowski

Electronic cigarettes make brain stem cells go up in smoke

Damaged or dead brain stem cells are never a good thing. They’re the cells that repair your brain tissue. In fact, fewer brain stem cells mean more brain aging and neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. And there’s a popular habit that does just this…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

The diet that made Crohn’s disease go away

More than three million US adults live with irritable bowel disease from either Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, and the toll can be devastating. But there’s new hope… A case study found that just giving up foods that most Americans eat in excess led to complete disease remission.

Joyce Hollman

10 foods with sneaky natural toxins you should avoid

If you’re a pet owner, you probably know there are certain foods and plants that can kill your dog or cat if they swallow them. And, if you’re a parent, you definitely have a list of foods that your child should never eat. But as a healthy adult, there are also foods that are surprisingly toxic to you. Avoid these 10…

Jenny Smiechowski

The supplement that helps cancer spread

You’ve probably heard for decades that antioxidants reduce cancer risk because they counteract free radicals and prevent DNA damage. But what if the antioxidant-cancer relationship wasn’t as straightforward as it seems? What if sometimes antioxidants fought cancer… and other times they fueled it?

Jenny Smiechowski

Are your iron supplements putting you at risk for a serious skin infection?

Excess iron can reduce your risk of high cholesterol… which is great. That means it could help prevent heart disease and strokes. But this benefit comes with some baggage… Too much increases your risk of some potentially dangerous skin infections. So how do you get just enough?

Dr. Michael Cutler

8 ways artificial sweeteners harm your body

I’ve read conflicting information about the safety of artificial sweeteners. Still, I have always told my patients that diet sodas are worse for them than anything. Let me share why I still say this, and which fake sweeteners you should always avoid based on what the science shows about their safety. 

Margaret Cantwell

How to discover your body’s true age and dial it back

Age is one of the most accurate risk factors for death. An 80-year-old has a much higher risk of dying than a 30-year-old. We all know that. It’s just the way nature works. But did you know there’s a factor that predicts longevity better than age? And if you know it, you can dial it back…

Joyce Hollman

How dangerous mistakes and industry bias lead to bad medicine

When a medical device, procedure or drug is found to be no better than previous alternatives or even dangerous, it becomes known as a “medical reversal,” and may be taken off market. But how does an inferior treatment pass muster in the first place? I’m all for do-overs, but not when lives hang in the balance…

Jenny Smiechowski

Train your brain to tame your sweet tooth

Whenever I try to stop eating added sugar, I fail. After a few weeks of doing without the sweet stuff, I decide to reward myself. That’s when my resolve crumbles faster than the delicious brown sugar and oatmeal topping on my apple crisp. But there’s hope for me (and you, too, if you share my angst) on the horizon…

Virginia Tims-Lawson

Alexa, monitor my heart

You might already have Amazon’s Alexa in your house — at least have seen the TV commercials. The technology is helpful for everything from making phone calls and turning on our lights to discovering a new recipe and keeping up to date on the latest news. But Alexa may be good for more than just making your life easier… it could save your life too.

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

4 cancer prevention strategies every senior should practice

Seniors represent a growing population at special risk of cancer. In fact, more than two-thirds of all new cancers are diagnosed in adults age 60 and up. That means of all the cancer diagnoses that will occur this year, over 67 percent will be in in people over 60.

Joyce Hollman

Why eating bad food makes you feel good, and how to break the cycle

Eating an entire bag of your favorite chips may not seem like a big deal.. especially if stress is driving your actions. You deserve these guilty pleasures, right? But if you’re social distancing and dealing with anxiety, the detrimental effects of stress eating is the last thing you need…

Jenny Smiechowski

Why pomegranate can keep your muscles young and healthy

I’m all about thinking age-positive… I don’t think older people are senile and feeble. I don’t freak out about every fine line or gray hair. And I absolutely hate when anyone tries to put you in a box based on your age… whether you’re 30, 60 or 90. That being said, I want to age as best I can.

Jenny Smiechowski

The scariest ingredient in the cereal aisle

It makes continental breakfasts bearable. Plus, it’s just an all-around good snack in a pinch (ask Jerry Seinfeld). And it’s fortified. But there is a serious problem with our cereal that goes beyond its sugar, carb or grain content… Too many popular cereals are chock-full of a health-compromising chemical.

Dr. Elizabeth Klodas MD, FACC

5 lesser known benefits of exercise

One of the common characteristics of people who live long well is that they move their bodies every day. And there are many documented benefits of a regular fitness routine, including decreasing your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. But there are other benefits that may surprise you…

Dr. Adria Schmedthorst

My psoriasis vanished when my extra weight did

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease caused by an autoimmune dysfunction. Now, though, thanks to a new study, there might be an effective way for at least some people living with psoriasis to find relief. In fact, it worked for me years before this research made the connection…

Joyce Hollman

4 disease-fighting diets (and the one reason they work)

Science has studied traditional diets and found proof they work to keep minds sharp, bodies active and hearts healthy. So, which one is the best for you? To help you decide, here are four diets from different parts of the world and one thing that makes any of them work better for wellness…

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